1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a two-chamber container for holding two separate components which are to be mixed together to make a ready-to-use preparation before it is dispensed from the container, and which are contained in two chambers disposed one above the other in a container housing, the container chambers being connected to one another by a passage running from the top of the lower container chamber into the bottom of the upper container chamber. This passage is stopped by a separating plug which can be displaced into one of the container chambers by a plunger element which can be displaced in the vertical direction from the outside, so that the components can flow together and be mixed with one another.
2. Description of the Prior Art
If a measured amount of a preparation of two components reacting with one another cannot be prepared until immediately before use, because the preparation otherwise becomes unusable for the intended purpose after any relatively great length of reaction time, the individual components are best loaded into separate chambers of such two-chambered containers, in order to assure that, after the preparation is ready, it will contain the components in the prescribed quantity ratio. If the amount of one of the components is small in comparison to the other component, as is often the case with pharmaceutical preparations for example, it is possible to integrate the chamber for the smaller component into the closure of the container holding the other component. We speak then of so-called "active ingredient chamber closures," of which many varieties are known. Among them are closures in which the active ingredient chamber has a tubular plunger acting as a punch on the previously scored chamber bottom, which before the closure is removed from the main container is pushed into the active ingredient chamber thus punching out the bottom of the active ingredient chamber, which then drops into the main container. The active ingredient then likewise enters into the main component and can be mixed with the latter by shaking or stirring with an appropriate instrument. After the complete removal of the active ingredient chamber closure the preparation can then be used. The problem becomes more difficult when the preparation has to be made up of comparable amounts of two components, since then the chamber must have such a capacity for the second component that it can no longer be integrated into the container closure. Cases like this can be encountered, for example, in cosmetic preparations, e.g., the making up of a ready-to-use hair dye emulsion from the actual dye component in paste form and the liquid oxidant (hydrogen peroxide), or also where the mixing of liquid or paste plastic resins with a hardener is involved. Another application is the packaging of certain liquid permanent waves which due to the incompatibility of the components can be mixed with one another only just before use, i.e., before the permanent wave preparation is applied to the customer's hair. For such cases two-chamber containers of the kind mentioned above have been developed (DE-OS 35 28 525) in which the two container chambers are made separately and then joined together to make the complete container before or after filling with the components of the preparation. The separating plug shutting the two chambers off from one another can be forced out of the connecting passage by pressing on a plunger with an accessible external handle, driving the plug into the upper container chamber. This known two-chamber container has proven useful basically for application-unit packaging and storage as well as for the preparation and application of liquid cosmetic binary preparations, but due to its complex construction and difficult assembly it is relatively expensive. Moreover, with this known container it is not possible to make sure that the plunger will not be accidentally and unintentionally actuated by heedless handling, causing the two components to come in contact and react with one another. The preparation can then no longer be used.